The Rainforest Is Being Destroyed, Europe Handles the Money: Money Laundering Allegations Against JBS and Its Powerful Business Partners

In the Amazon, the trees are coming down. In Europe, the business deals are being handled. Between the two stands a meat industry whose profits are now the subject of serious money laundering allegations. On November 4, 2026, the Transnational Legal Coalition, a newly formed international alliance of lawyers and human rights and environmental organizations, including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), filed a total of 14 legal complaints in Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. They target JBS, the world's largest meat producer, and its European business partners. Banks and accounting firms are under scrutiny, along with the company's lawyers. The accusations go far beyond ordinary environmental violations: Those involved may have helped funnel proceeds from illegal rainforest destruction into the legitimate financial system.

The world's largest meat producer, JBS, is deeply embedded in Europe's food business. Through subsidiaries such as Moy Park, it has supply relationships with Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose, and Co-op, as well as McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and Nando's. Germany is also among the markets for Brazilian beef from JBS slaughterhouses. While JBS and its European financial partners face serious money laundering allegations connected to the destruction of the Amazon, the company's meat business reaches all the way to European consumers' dinner plates.

That also puts pressure on the companies making money from its business while publicly promising their customers that they operate responsibly. The basis for the allegations is an investigation by the environmental research organization AidEnvironment. According to its findings, JBS's supply chains are directly or indirectly linked to more than 6.5 million hectares of deforested land. That's over 16 million acres. Cattle are raised on land that used to be forest, then sold, eventually becoming part of the international meat trade. The crucial legal question is whether cattle raised on illegally cleared land qualify as criminal property. If so, the money made from selling them could also fall under money laundering laws.

JBS makes billions from a business whose environmental consequences have long been documented. Research puts the company's methane emissions on a scale comparable to the combined emissions of ExxonMobil and Shell. As the Amazon changes under the pressure of cattle ranching, the meat producer's economic influence keeps growing. Nature doesn't fall for accounting tricks. What's been destroyed stays destroyed, even if the profits pass through 20 bank accounts afterward. The names of the financial companies involved are particularly explosive. Barclays and Rabobank are among them, along with BlackRock. KPMG and EY are also named in the complaints. The coalition accuses them of violating their legal obligations to conduct enhanced due diligence on high-risk business relationships. European anti-money laundering regulations require closer examination of the origins of assets when risks are elevated. Suspected violations must be reported to the appropriate authorities. Failure to do so can also carry criminal consequences for responsible employees.

George Collecott of the Global Legal Action Network gets straight to the point. Had the European business partners fulfilled their obligations, they would have had to recognize the money laundering risk. They would then have had to end their business relationships or notify law enforcement authorities. Instead, they have maintained close ties to JBS for years. Regulators in the countries involved are now being asked to investigate whether these companies fulfilled their legal obligations. The convenient excuse of knowing nothing about any of it is one they should no longer be able to hide behind. Barclays points out that it has been conducting enhanced due diligence on clients involved in beef production since 2021. Rabobank says it does not accept new clients whose land was illegally cleared after January 2018. KPMG is reviewing the complaint. BlackRock did not comment. Neither JBS nor EY provided a response.

For its 2025 listing on the New York Stock Exchange, JBS moved its official headquarters to the Netherlands. The country offers tax advantages, but it also requires companies to comply with legal duties of care. Greenpeace Netherlands had already begun preparing legal action against the company in April. One reason is its planned $2.5 billion investment in new meat-processing facilities in Nigeria. Greenpeace is demanding information about the project, which, according to the organization, neither JBS nor the Nigerian government has provided so far.

In July 2026, JBS finally abandoned its previous goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2040. Its promise to eliminate deforestation from its Brazilian supply chains also disappeared from its sustainability report. Commitments can be crossed off on paper. Criminal responsibility doesn't disappear that way. That's exactly why these 14 complaints could become far more dangerous for JBS and its European business partners than the next public debate over a rainforest being cut down.

To be continued ...